


Winter Wonderland

by gleeksfreaksandwannabes



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Christmas Eve, M/M, alec isn't out to his parents, book verse i guess, just cliches and fluff, merry christmas my loves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 16:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8998510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gleeksfreaksandwannabes/pseuds/gleeksfreaksandwannabes
Summary: Alec and Magnus spend Christmas Eve wandering through a glittering wonderland, falling in love with each other more and more with each snowflake that falls.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Good evening loves! This story has been sitting in my notes for months, waiting for tonight, so you could all wake up on Christmas Eve day or on Christmas morning to a little present, to say thank you for a great year of being a part of this wonderful fandom, for reading my stories and for your lovely comments on my work!
> 
> I love you all, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, happy holidays, and I'll see you in the new year!
> 
> Again, my tumblr is [here!](http://gleeksfreaksandwannabes.tumblr.com) Feel free to come visit me, I'd love to chat! xo

By the time first dusting of snow was falling over the institute, visiting Magnus had become second nature to Alec. More often than not he was making his way down to the icy subway, shivering all the way to Brooklyn, and stamping the snow out of his boots as he knocked on Magnus's door. But as Magnus opened the door each night, his beaming smile radiating as he reached up to dust the snowflakes from Alec's hair, it was if a golden warmth spread through his body, like hot coffee heating him from the inside out, and he couldn't help but smile.

Tonight, Alec was greeted by Magnus bundled up in designer coats and scarves, standing on the toes of his black lace up boots to kiss him gently.

"Where to, darling?" Magnus asked, smiling as Alec took his gloved hand in his own.

"You'll see," Alec replied, leading Magnus back down to the street and wandering back towards the subway.

Magnus couldn't help the grin on his face as they entered Central Park, their hands swinging gently and their boots crunching in the snow. There was a faint choir of carolers singing in the distance, and Magnus' heart flipped in his chest as he heard Alec humming tunelessly beside him.

Twinkling Christmas lights hung like stars overhead, illuminating the gold in Magnus' hair. The glitter in his eyeliner sparking red and green against the black of his eyeshadow almost captured Alec entirely, and he narrowly missed a trash can as Magnus chuckled musically.

The air wasn't cold tonight, or perhaps it was just the warmth radiating through Alec's every nerve as he walked with Magnus, but he couldn't help but think that they could have stayed there all night and he wouldn't be cold, just simply holding Magnus' hand had warmed him from head to toe. 

There were a few others in the park, couples wandering aimlessly like they were, holding hands and giggling together in their own little world, and Alec couldn't help but think how wonderful it was that just for tonight, no one spared them a second glance.

He had enlisted a glamour to hide his runes and left his stele back at the institute; tonight, they were invisible and unassuming, just like any other couple walking in Central Park on Christmas Eve. Alec allowed himself to smile at thought of being with Magnus in that way, being a couple with him out in the open...

"Not that I don't love your smile, Alexander," Magnus awoke Alec from his thoughts with a gentle nudge to his arm "but what are you smiling about?"

"Just this," Alec turned his grin on Magnus, swinging heir hands slightly as they walked and causing the normally confident warlock's heart to skip a beat "Us,"  
Without any further explanation, Alec turned his eyes forward again, continuing to swing their hands slightly as a light dusting of snow began to fall. Alec stopped them again after a few moments, turning to face Magnus as he took his other hand. Magnus watched in an embarrassingly obvious awe as the snow glittered against the black of Alec's coat on his shoulders, clinging to his dark hair and eyelashes with an almost illuminating beauty, like stars against the night sky, and he couldn't help but stare,

"Magnus--" Alec began, but he stopped as he caught the warlock's eyes on him, so full of wonder and love, it was a look Alec had never received before. Jace and Izzy had always had plenty of suitors fawn over them, even Max had looked at them like they were the moon and the stars; but Alec, people always looked at him with certainty. His parents knew they could trust him with the institute, and Jace and Isabelle knew they could trust him to watch their backs on a mission. Alec Lightwood wasn't beautiful, he wasn't special or worthy of everyone's attention, he was reliable, the one that people turned to when they needed him, not when they wanted him. 

Until recently he had accepted it as fact; the world needed people to get the job done just as much it needed people to look pretty and inspire others, and until this moment Alec had no reason to believe he wasn't the former, not until Magnus had looked at him like he was his whole world...

Alec's tongue seemed to have grown too big for his mouth, and he cleared his throat, unable to generate anything that sounded like words. He knew what he had wanted to say, that nobody had ever looked at him like that, nobody had ever made him feel so special and so loved. He wanted to say that he looked at Magnus the exact same way all the time, that somehow they just made sense, that it was just a matter of time before they found each other, that maybe nobody had looked at Alec that way before because that look was reserved specifically for Magnus. For the one person who understood him better than he did himself, and loved him unconditionally just the same, that none of it mattered any more as long as he could see Magnus look at him like that for as long as possible...

He didn't say any of that, he couldn't. There was a filter between Alec's brain and his mouth, he suspected it was put there when he was young and his mother picked him up when he had first scraped his knee and told him not to cry, to not let his emotion stop him from getting his job done. Whatever the case, something in Magnus' eyes had kicked down that filter, because Alec ended up saying something he never thought he would say to anyone,

"Magnus, I love you," the warlock's eyes widened, and he made to return the sentiment, but Alec shook his head and spoke over him; if he didn't do this now, when everything stopping him was pushed aside and he was nothing but a boy trying to show someone he loved them, he would never do it,

"I don't care about what The Clave, or Jace and Izzy, or my parents, or anyone has to say about it, and I know we've only been seeing each other for six months, but being with you is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I want everyone-- or at least my family--" he amended, blushing at Magnus' encouraging smile "to know who I am, because who I am is better with you, Magnus, and I-- I want you to come to Christmas dinner with us," Alec finished, that familiar anxious feeling clawing at his chest as he searched Magnus' face for any sign of his reaction. Magnus cared deeply about him, he knew that, but when it came to matters of the heart, Alec was still unsure, still so afraid of having to let down his walls, lest his heart be broken and his wounds exposed to the world, so he waited on edge as Magnus let his words sink in, ready to slip back behind the walls at the last second--

Magnus' face broke into a smile then, the kind of smile that melted away any and all fear Alec had as his shoulders slumped slightly,

"I love you too, Alexander," he said gently, unable to stop the pride he felt as Alec's own face broke into a smile, his eyes crinkling at the edges and his hazel irises lighting up. 

Magnus was the reason he looked so beautiful at that moment, he had been the only one who could make Alec smile this way, and he couldn't help but let his own smile widen slightly at the thought before he reluctantly let it fall as he squeezed Alec's hands gently,

"But are you sure you're ready for your family to know?" Alec, to Magnus' surprise, didn't even hesitate before he spoke,

"I am," he said firmly "I know it'll be a shock for them, but I am so, so happy with you," Magnus let his smile begin to return as Alec squeezed one of his hands "and I want them to see that,"

"Alexander, are you sure--?" he hadn't even finished his protest before Alec, letting out a rare chuckle, pulled him by his hands, so close their chests were touching, wrapped his arms around the warlock's torso and kissed him, smiling into the kiss as Magnus wrapped his arms around his neck. 

They stayed that way until they began to feel a chill, embracing and kissing in a perfect storm of glittering white snow flakes, and Alec couldn't help but grin as he pressed his forehead against Magnus', watching passers by smile at them out of the corner of his eye. 

Perhaps it was alright for people to stare once in a while.


End file.
